You and I are stewards of an amazing Gospel message.. God's love for us is not too good to be true.

 

Twenty First Sunday in OT B 2021

In today’s first Scripture reading, Joshua was asking for a decision from the Israelites: “Decide today whom you will serve?”   Joshua goes on to affirm: “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

In today’s Gospel, many of the disciples have abandoned ship and returned to their former way of life.  Plain and simple, the demands of discipleship were more than they bargained for.  According to the evangelist John, many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said: “This saying is hard:  who can accept it?” Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”  Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”

 

 If you were there at the time would you be one of the many disciples who returned to his/her former way of life or one that stayed with Jesus? Is there any middle ground here?

 Just as Jesus’ question, “Do you want to leave?” was a moment of crisis for some of the disciples, so has been the pandemic a moment of crisis or decision making for us.

At that time “many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.” Jesus decides to question the apostles. Jesus then said to the Twelve, ‘Do you also want to leave?’ Make a decision.

A moment of crisis is a moment of choice; it is a moment that puts us in front of the decisions we have to make.

Peter’s response with a confession of faith is an example of faith and trust amid a crisis. Peter responded: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

This helps all of us to live through moments of crisis. This pandemic is also a time of social crisis.

This is not the time to make changes. It is a moment of fidelity, of fidelity to God, fidelity to the decisions we have made before. Also, it is a moment of conversion because this fidelity will inspire some of us to change for the better. In times of crisis, be very firm in the conviction of faith.

What about our commitment to our discipleship of the Lord Jesus?  Are we able to get in the lane of discipleship and stay in the lane -- come what may?  This is the commitment question the Scriptures are inviting us to reflect upon.

It wasn’t just first century disciples who grumbled, questioned difficult teachings, and chose not to follow Jesus.  People today wonder if the Gospel has anything of value to say to their life situation or to the human condition.

 

In the wake of the clergy sex abuse scandal, has our trust in the spiritual leaders of our Church derailed our trust and our participation in the life of the Church?  AS we deal with the pandemic crisis that has turned our lives upside down, are we now having trouble finding our spiritual footing?  AS more and more people question the rituals and practices of the institutional Church, can we stay in the lane of God’s unending love for us?   Now is not the time to hide.  We need to be honest, to be forthright, to be seen and to come before the light of Christ.

We live in challenging times.  Today’s seeker is bombarded by a myriad of competing claims about where to go and whom to follow.  Deciding what course is not a simple task.  There are too many scandals with spiritual and government leaders.   Sexual morality seems to be up for grabs, our mounting national debt, our escalating environmental questions, the tragic conflict in Afghanistan, ongoing poverty both locally and globally make us want to throw up our hands and cry “uncle.”

In out discipleship of the Lord Jesus, can we say with conviction that Jesus is the North Star of our lives?  It is one thing to be born a Catholic; it is another to choose to remain one.  To be born a Christian could be an accident.  To decide to remain one is a decision.

I entered the seminary at age 14 on my journey to the priesthood 65 years ago, my level of commitment as a 14-year-old has evolved over the years in the joys and the challenges and the struggles in my priestly life and ministry.  Yes, I have been disillusioned by the institutional church; yes, I have seen spiritual leaders in the Church that haven’t walked their talk at times; yes, I am concerned by the declining number of candidates for the priesthood; yes, I can’t say that I am enthusiastic about all the human canonical regulations of our Church.  So, you can ask, why do I stay a priest?

 

I take the apostle Peter in today’s Gospel as my model. In the words of Peter, “Lord, where else would we go?  You have the words of eternal life. I have been and will continue to be a generous recipient of God’s unending love for me.  Jesus has been and will continue to be the North Star of my life.

I am in the lane of being a disciple of Jesus and witnessing to God’s love in the midst of our flawed Church.  Yes, we are flawed.  But we are also loved and forgiven by the unending love of Jesus for us.

You and I are stewards of an amazing Gospel message.  God’s love for us is not too good to be true.  God is faithful in His love for us in all experiences of life.  We are still called to live and share this commitment to faithfulness.

My question for you in your journey of faith has there come that time for you to say that there is no turning back, that Jesus is indeed the way, the truth, and the life, and that we are called to follow Him no matter the course or length or difficulty of the journey.  Oh, sure, there may still be times of doubt or darkness, or dismay and difficulty, but the course is clear; there is no other choice about whom we will follow.  Even in the suffering we experience in life, can we stay in the lane of trusting in God’s unending love for us?

We ask ourselves what are the important commitments of our life?   What is our commitment to God?  How does our discipleship of the Lord Jesus shape the way we live our lives?

What is your commitment level to your family? 

What is your level of commitment to the faith community of St Joseph’s?  Are we a parish community that fosters the development of soul friends that are life giving to our spirit and to our faith life?  As a parishioner, are you more than a pew-sitter?  May we be a community that witnesses to the love of Jesus Christ by our sharing of our love and friendship with one another?

May God give you peace and a sense of commitment to discipleship of the Lord Jesus.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord. My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.

 

Assumption 2021

 

In celebrating the Feast of Mary’s Assumption into heaven, we are aware of the gift given to Mary at the beginning and at the end of her life – in her Immaculate Conception she was freed from original sin, and in her Assumption she was immediately taken up onto heaven body and soul.

 We look to Mary as the model and example of our discipleship.  We celebrate the gifted relationship with her son Jesus.

 For Mary heavenly glory is not so much a place but an intensified relationship. She was taken up to be where Christ is. In her the Lord fulfills his promise to the Church ‘where I am you may be also.’ (Jn.14.3).

Whereas we are still pilgrims on the way.  Mary is no longer on the way home to God. She is a pilgrim no longer.

This is her glory we celebrate in the Feast of the Assumption.

The key to the celebration of this feast is relationship.  Being without sin the relationship of obedient love was never broken. She also enjoyed the relationship of maternity. Jesus grew in her womb; they shared a common life. They were of ‘one flesh’  in virtue of her maternity. It is this flesh, the total bodily reality of the Incarnate Word which ascends to heavenly glory. At the end of her earthly life it is this body in which the redeemer of the world was welcomed and nurtured which is re-united with the glorified Christ.

As shown in today’s Gospel,  Mary came to know more fully the call of God in her life in the context of her relationship with her cousin Elizabeth.  In today’s Gospel, “Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.”  In this visitation, Mary did not come to tell Elizabeth what to do, but simply to share hospitality, availability, friendship, and their love for each other.

It is in the context of their sharing of their friendship that Mary proclaimed her beautiful song of praise:  “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.”

 

Mary’s Magnificat can be compared to the Beatitudes.  “He has shown the strength of his arm.  He has scattered the proud in their conceit.  He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly.  He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.”

What is significant about this visitation Gospel is how we discover the call of God and the presence of God in our lives.  For certain, God speaks to us in the silence and the solitude of prayer.  As the psalmist tells us:  “Be still and know that I am God.”

But the silence of prayer is not our only path to God; as for Mary in today’s visitation Gospel, it is also in the context of the friendship and loves of our lives that we come to know God’s call in our lives.

Value the spirituality of the friendships of our lives.  It is in the joy of relationships that are privileged ways of encountering the God of friendship and the God of love.  Yes, our spirituality is very, very relational – relationship with our loving God and our relationship with one another.

Who in your life has been Elizabeth for you confirming  the presence of God?  Who in your life has been like Mary encouraging you to give praise to God.

If you were to write your own Magnificat, what in your life would you mark as your blessings what you wish to give praise and thanks to our loving God?

Seeking the intercession of Mary, may we be a Church of friendship, a Church of love.  In the words of Jesus, “By this all shall know you are my disciples, your love for one another.”

Yes, we discover the presence and the call of God in our lives in the context of the friendship and love we have for one another.

The challenge for all of us, without exception, is to recognize the call of God, emanating from deep within our spirit.  We live in a noisy culture which seeks to compete with God’s call in our life.

Today’s Gospel truth calls us to look to Mary and follow her example in discovering the call of God in our lives.  Clearly, Mary is a person of prayer.  She pondered in her heart the workings of God in her life.  As shown in today’s Gospel, Mary also came to know the call of God in her life in the context of her relationship with her cousin Elizabeth. 

It is in this setting that we will recognize more clearly the call of God in life.  I have prayed over the events of this past week in the light of today’s beautiful Gospel. 

This past week, I had the privilege of celebrating Mass at Camp Stella Maris.  It is an inspiring vibrant liturgy.  Very personally inspiring for me, my grandnephew Jake and grandniece Lilly were campers and I gave them Communion at Mass.  Also, my grandniece Katie is a counseling intern at Camp Stella Maris.  I was overjoyed in seeing Katie as an intern counselor for the campers.

Being among these beautiful campers and leading them in prayer deepens the call of God in my life as a priest.

I also had the opportunity of visiting my sister and having a picnic dinner with Anne and her children and grandchildren.  This was a such a God moment for me.

I very much invite you to reflect on the call in your life in the context of your family and all the relationships of your life.

This is the grace of the Visitation Gospel.  In the context of her friendship and love with her cousin Elizabeth, Mary spoke the beautiful Magnificat prayer.

So too for us, in the context of our family life and in all the relationships of our life, may they be God moments for us where we too proclaim:  “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.

As we celebrate the gifted relationship of Mary with her son, we celebrate both her Immaculate Conception at the beginning of her life and the Feast of the Assumption at the end of her life.  Mary is our intercessor and our guide.

The words of Jesus spoken at the Last Supper are meant for us as well: “ I am going to prepare a place for you that where I am you also may be.  I will come back again and take you to where I am.”

Mary the Mother of the Lord Jesus has pointed the way for the direction of our lives as one day we too will go home to God; we will go to the place the Lord has prepared for us so that in the words of Jesus:  That where I am you also may be.  I will back again and take you where I am.

 

May God give you in peace in your journey of faith.

We ask for the grace to be touched by the merciful love of Jesus to renew us in spirit.

 

 

NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN OT  B  2021

Propagation of the Faith

 

In my 53 years as a priest,  I have never experienced a liturgy in which at 6:00 am on each and every school day 1,000 high school girls in full Catholic school uniform sing the opening hymn with enthusiastic voices accompanied only by one of their own beating her heart out in striking a well-worn drum.  I tell you looking out from the altar at these Tanzanian girls was a mystical moment of prayerfulness and joy.

 

We were indeed on holy ground.  Father Damian Milliken, a Benedictine priest from Elmira, New York, was presiding at the Mass.  Father Damian is a priest in his 80’s and has ministered in the last 50 years of his priesthood serving the poorest of the poor in Tanzania, East Africa.  The genuine love and respect that Father Damian enjoys with these young Tanzanians and their families and all who live in the area around Mazinde Ju is so Christ-like and uplifting. 

 

Equally impressive is a religious community of consecrated women who are such an important part of the teaching faculty.  These are the religious sisters of Usambara.  Dressed in their full habit, these sisters number 500 consecrated women in Tanzania.  These sisters know in their DNA the joy of the Lord.

 

To describe St Mary’s School in Mazinde Ju in Tanzania is a bit of a challenge.  It is a residential school where these students live during the academic year and are able to get three healthy meals each day.  The dormitories these students live in are filled with bunk beds.  Each girl has a tiny cubicle which houses all her worldly possessions including all her clothing.  I have a beautiful grandniece for whom to put all her clothes in this tiny cubicle would simply be impossible.

 These high school students, these beloved daughters of God have no sense of entitlement by which they expect people to take care of them.  They are so grateful for every opportunity in life that is given to them.  They are not saddened by the effects of the poverty of the country; they are joy-filled in the opportunity that is given to them as students in this quality academic setting that is filled with so much love and so much spirituality.

 

I tell you this first hand from having the privilege of sending time with these students in Mazinde Ju in Tanzania to be inspired by their faith, their desire to learn, the way they care for one another, and the opportunity St Mary’s School gives these students to continue their education.  Under the inspired leadership of this Benedictine priest Fr Damien Milliken and the religious sisters of the Usambara, these students are formed and fashioned after the mind and heart of Jesus.

 

The second collection today is the annual Propagation of the Faith collection.  Every cent of this collection goes to support the educational opportunity for these high school girls.  This school provides so much more than our excellent high schools.  These girls and their families live in such poverty that is hard for us to imagine as it is so far removed from our way of life.  This school is a residential school that provides such a healthy way of life for these students.  It is the promised land for these students.

 

Some of us make an annual $1,000 contribution to provide a scholarship for one on these deserving students.    Personally, I gladly make this $1,000 contribution each year.  I had the profound privilege of spending some time with this young Tanzanian girl I have sponsoring for the last three years.  I tell you I had to tell myself: “Be still my heart” when I realized the opportunity I was giving this daughter of God in my prayer and in my tithing commitment.  In all truth, l cannot think of a better use of this money. 

 

As I reflect on the enthusiasm, the joy and the gratitude of these Tanzanian girls, we reflect on today’s Scriptures.  In all three readings today, people are tired, exhausted, depressed, and full of complaints.  In the first Scripture reading, the prophet Elijah was having a pity party for himself; he was broken in spirit; and just slept under a broom tree waiting to die.  In the second Scripture reading, Paul was demanding the Ephesians stop all bitterness, fury, anger, shouting and reviling.  Then in the Gospel, the Jews were murmuring about Jesus because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

 

 Does this sound like God’s chosen people?  Perhaps these folks need to read and enjoy Pope Francis’s letter on THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL.  Perhaps they need to sing the beautiful hymn to the God of all hopefulness, the God of all joy.

 

I tell you these girls living in the poverty of their family life in Tanzania have plenty of reason to be tired and depressed.  And yet, they are filled with joy and gratitude.  How can this be?  They are touched by the mystery of God’s unending love for them.  They feel the love and support of each other; they are much loved by Father Damien and the Sisters of Usambara; and they know the support of our generous tithing support.

 

In a word, these girls have experienced in the mystery of the Church people who love and support them, and they have encountered Jesus as their friend and as their Savior and Lord.  Wow!  Our parish mantra is that we are the Church.  These high schools have experienced the Church not as a building but as the people of God who care for each other and who trust in Jesus.

 

 

 

 Back to the Scriptures, the conversion experience for the Prophet Elijah, for the Ephesians in which apostle Paul preached to; and the followers of Jesus happened when they encountered God’s merciful love.  Then their negativity was transformed into trusting in Jesus.  They were renewed in spirit and discovered the blessings and the joy of knowing the Lord.

 

And so, we need to do an inventory of our faith journey when we are overwhelmed by tiredness, by stress, by our own negativity.  We ask for the grace to be touched by the merciful love of Jesus to renew us in spirit.

 

In our financial tithing in the second collection today, we are privileged to share from the blessings we enjoy with these beautiful young women.  In so doing, we are living as Jesus lived and we are doing what Jesus did in serving the needs of all of God’s people.

 

May God give you peace and generosity of spirit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Gospel spirituality calls us to be mission-minded.

 

 

Eighteenth Sunday in OT  B  2021

Propagation of the Faith homily

In my 53 years as a priest,  I have never experienced a liturgy in which at 6:00 am on each and every school day 1,000 high school girls in full Catholic school uniform sing the opening hymn with enthusiastic voices accompanied only by one high school girl in the choir loft striking a well-worn drum.  I tell you looking out from the altar at these Tanzanian girls was a mystical moment of prayerfulness and joy.

We were indeed on holy ground.  Father Damian Milliken, a Benedictine priest from Elmira, New York, was presiding at the Mass.  Father Damian is a priest in his 80’s and has ministered in the last 50 years of his priesthood serving the poorest of the poor in Tanzania, East Africa.  The genuine love and respect that Father Damian enjoys with these young Tanzanians and their families and all who live in the area around Mazinde Ju is so Christ-like and uplifting. 

Equally impressive is a religious community of consecrated women who are such an important part of the teaching faculty.  These are the religious sisters of Usambara.  Dressed in their full habit, these sisters number 500 sisters in Tanzania.  These sisters know in their DNA the joy of the Lord.

To describe St Mary’s School in Mazinde Ju in Tanzania is a bit of a challenge.  It is a residential school where these students live during the academic year and are able to get three healthy meals each day.  The dormitories these students live in are filled with bunk beds.  Each girl has a tiny cubicle which houses all her worldly possessions including all her clothing.  I have a beautiful grandniece for whom to put all her clothes in this tiny cubicle would simply be impossible.

 

 These high school students, these beloved daughters of God have no sense of entitlement by which they expect people to take care of them.  They are so grateful for every opportunity in life that is given to them.  They are not saddened by the effects of the poverty of the country; they are joy-filled in the opportunity that is given to them as students in this quality academic setting that is filled with so much love and so much spirituality.

Why do I tell you all this?  I can you first hand from having the privilege of sending time with these students in Mazinde Ju in Tanzania to be inspired by their faith, their desire to learn, the way they care for one another, and the opportunity St Mary’s School gives these students to continue their education.  Under the inspired leadership of this Benedictine priest Fr Damien Milliken and the religious sisters of the Usambara, these students are formed and fashioned after the mind and heart of Jesus.

The second collection today is the annual Propagation of the Faith collection.  Every cent of this collection goes to support the educational opportunity for these high school girls.  This school provides so much more than our excellent high schools.  These girls and their families live in such poverty that is hard for us to imagine as it is so far removed from our way of life.  This school is a residential school that provides such a healthy way of life for these students.  It is the promised land for these students.

Some of us make an annual $1,000 contribution to provide a scholarship for one on these deserving students.    Personally, I gladly make this $1,000 contribution each year.  I had the profound privilege of spending some time with this young Tanzanian girl I have sponsoring for the last three years.  I tell you I had to tell myself: “Be still my heart” when I realized the opportunity I was giving this daughter of God in my prayer and in my tithing commitment.  In all truth, l cannot think of a better use of this money. 

 Lest you think I have forgotten the Scripture readings, in the first Scripture reading from the Book of Exodus, the Israelites weren’t having a good time.  Their complaints were mounting.  Nothing was going right for them.  Moses their leader was on the hot seat. 

 

God patiently works with them and responds to their complaints with bread from heaven.  As they gather the manna each day of their journey, they may learn to trust that God will always care for them.

 

But the truth of their journey lies in the reality that until the people learned to trust in God, they would never make much progress towards the Promised Land.

 

This is the truth of our spiritual journey as well:  Until we trust in God’s faithfulness to us, we wander a bit aimlessly.

I would our financial support for these Tanzanian high school girls is like manna from heaven given to them so they have an educational and life opportunity that otherwise they would never experience.

 

In today’s Gospel, remembering when Jesus fed five thousand people with only two fish and five barley loaves, the crowd chased Jesus down to ask for more, as if Jesus had a magic picnic hamper always full of food.  Jesus tells to look for a different kind of food.  Jesus said to them:  I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE.

 

Jesus now says that the deepest hungers and thirsts of the human heart are satisfied through the person of Jesus.  He is food for our souls.  Jesus is inviting us to a personal relationship with him.

 

Jesus is trying to refocus the inquiring minds of his disciples.  They are seeking him because they have filled their bellies on the loaves of bread.  But they have not understood the loaves as signs of God’s care for people.  They are well acquainted with their physical hunger and deeply attached to filling it.  But they are less acquainted with their spiritual hunger and unsure how to fill it.  Jesus tells them that he himself is the one who feeds them with eternal food.

Going back to how I began this homily, these students begin each at 6:00 am celebrating the Eucharist giving thanks to God for the blessings they now enjoy.

 

In our generous spiritual and financial support of these beautiful, beautiful Tanzanian high school girls, we are living the words of Jesus in the Last Judgment scene depicted in the Gospel of Matthew:  Jesus says: What you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do to me.”

 

May God give you peace and a generous spirit.

 

As we participate at the Eucharistic banquet, we are sent forth to share our five barley loaves and two fish with the hungry people in our midst.

 

SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY in OT  B  2021

Today we remember the most famous picnic in religious history. Today’s Gospel recounts the account of Jesus feeding the five thousand with the multiplication of the loaves and the fish.

 

I invite you to envision this well-known miracle story of Jesus feeding the five thousand people with five barley loaves and two fish in a new way.

 

Imagine that the hungry crowd of 5,000 people represents all the people we will encounter through this coming week, beginning at the dismissal rite of this Mass.  These are the people God puts in our path as we journey this week … obviously your family members, the people who have gathered for this Eucharistic celebration in our parish community, the people you work with and vacation with, the incidental people you meet during the course of the week, the person in the car driving ahead of you and so on and son on.

 

These are all God’s people.  In some real ways, they are hungry for that which gives them life.  They may or may not be physically hungry, but they are spiritually and emotionally hungry for the fullness of life.   Lord calls us to move out of our comfort zone and do something about it.

 

Do we think of ourselves as people having a responsibility to feed the hungry in our midst?  To be clear from the Gospel, we are missioned to feed the hungry – the physical, emotional and spiritual hunger of people whom the Lord places in our lives.

 

 This is our spirituality.  This is the meaning of stewardship.  Pope Francis in his homily on this miracle account says its spiritual message is more about sharing than multiplying.

 

As the Body of Christ, we are commissioned to wash the feet of God’s poor and feed the hungers of people we share life with.

 

 

But to be clear, we are called also to share of ourselves in feeding the spiritually and emotionally hungry that the Lord places in our lives.  In the Gospel account, God met the hunger of the people, beginning with the generosity of one of the least among them – the young boy who was willing to share his five barley loaves and two fish.  May this young boy who was willing to share be our examination of conscience for us.  What reasons do we give for not sharing some of our perfectly disposable gifts?

 

Thus young boy also provides an inspiration:  Whenever we are discouraged by the demon of “What good can my little bit do (whether of money, time, or effort), we should remember that God can multiply our little bit.”

 

As we consider and take responsibility for our mission collectively as a parish community, we are sent forth as the Church of St. Joseph’s to be a Church of Mercy.  As we are fed and nourished in the mystery of the Eucharist, we are to share the giftedness we have been given.  We are to share our five barley loaves and two fish so that the Lord reveals His love to the hungry through our generosity.  The Lord is merciful to us so that we can be merciful to others.

 

This Gospel miracle account is good news because it tells that God is concerned about people who hunger.  It is good news because it reminds us that God can work wonders with the little we have if we are willing to give it all.  It is good news because it reminds us that with God in our midst, we can always make a banquet out of what seems to be pretty poor fare.

 

In the Gospel account, there is more here than just a great number of hungry people being wondrously fed and satisfied.  Jesus is gathering with the hungry in the context of a shared meal, not only to feed and to be fed but to enter into covenant with all those present.  Here Jesus sets an example for those who follow him in ministry.  Our task is not simply to dole out food but to take, bless, give thanks and share our food together with the hungry and the poor, thereby sealing our relationship with them.  We are to offer nourishment as well as commitment, food as well as fellowship.

 

The true miracle is not the multiplication of loaves and fish, but the multiplication of God’s grace.  The God who is the source of all life offers us the possibility of participating in the divine life by our sharing with others our five barley loaves and two fish.

 

When Jesus and the disciples ate together with the crowds who had gathered that day by the Sea of Galilee, they were announcing by their sharing that a new relationship was being established between Jesus, the disciples and all the hungry whom they fed.

 

Moreover, the meal of barley loaves and fish by the Sea of Galilee anticipated another even more significant meal that Jesus would host with his own.  This meal would remember the gift of himself on the cross and the covenant made with sinful humankind through his blood.  That meal would celebrate the union in love that believers would forever thereafter enjoy with God, with Jesus, with one another, in the Spirit.

 

The bread we receive from the hand of God is more than mere barley loaves.  It is the Eucharistic bread of full life, life in all its dimensions, life in Christ.  As we are fed and nourished at the Table of the Lord, we are sent forth to share our five barley loaves and two fish with the hungry people in our midst.

 

Have a Blessed Day.

 

Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.

 

Sixteenth Sunday in OT  B 2021

 

Of the ten commandments, in some ways the third commandment is the least thought of the commandments.

 

Who can tell me the third commandment?

 

Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.

 

What does this mean? 

 

Doing what you are doing.  Coming to Mass.  Thanks be to God.

 

The Sunday Eucharist is to be a part of the rhythm of our life.  What is less clear about this Commandment is that we keep the Lord’s Day holy by resting, by renewing ourselves, by remembering what is important in life.

 

We need to reclaim a sabbatical consciousness.  By that, we need to be able to rest – not just in the sense of taking a nap or even taking a vacation, but resting in the presence of our loving God who wishes to renew us in spirit day by day.

 

 

In the Gospel, Jesus is calling the apostles to rest.  Jesus said:  “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” 

 

The message here about our need for rest and renewal is genuine, not selfish.

 

 

What is your “Out of the-Way Place” that enables you to rest a while?  It may be a place on the water or in the mountains.  It may simply be a favorite chair -- perhaps not located in front of the TV, but in a quiet prayer corner of your home.  It may be a relaxing walk or a place to experience the sunrise. 

 

I would invite you to think of this dimension of your spirituality.   God will hold us accountable for the good things we fail to enjoy.  We are blessed in so many ways.  Pope Francis in his writings wants us to rejoice and be glad.  He has written the JOY OF THE GOSPEL and the JOY OF LOVE.

 

 

 

 

 

In the rhythm of the spiritual life, there needs to be both a time apart and a time with others.   In the time apart, we need to be comfortable with solitude – time to be, time to be still in the presence of God.  It has been said wisely:  Beware of the person who cannot be alone. This person can use community as a way of running away from themselves.

 

We need to find time in our day for prayer.  But “Father, my day is too crazy.  I’m too busy.’  If we are too busy to pray, yes, we are too busy.  I invite you to find sometime in your day to waste time with God.  That is what prayer is – wasting time with God.

 

Back to the Gospel, “when Jesus disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things.”  In the rhythm of our spiritual life, there needs to be time for personal prayer; there also needs to be time in which we do what Jesus did.

 

Our spiritual life is not merely about our personal piety; our spiritual life is to be lived out in the service of people in need.  This is how Jesus lived.  This is how the disciples of Jesus are to live. 

 

There are so many people searching today, people hungering for instruction, good people who are looking for direction: elderly people who feel the diminishing surge of life in their bodies; people who are angry and confused because they have lost confidence in leaders, whether political or religious.  They are people looking for answers and for meaning.  They are like sheep without a shepherd.  To whom should they turn?

 

As a people of God, as the disciples of Jesus, as the community of the baptized, our call is to shepherd one another.  It doesn’t mean they we have all the answers, but it does mean that we are to offer our loving support and service to one another.  It does mean that in Christ Jesus we are brothers and sisters to each other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the rhythm of our spiritual life, prayer leads to our service of one another, and our service of one another leads us back to prayer.  It is the Lord who is the Good Shepherd of the lives of us all.  The Lord is be a part of the rhythm of our lives.   Our responsorial psalm is psalm 23.  “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; he makes me lie down in green pastures.  He leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.”  May we always know that we are never abandoned by a God whose love is made known to us in Jesus, the Good Shepherd.

 

Jesus is the Good Shepherd who is always concerned about people.  Notice in the first part of today’s Gospel account, Jesus is concerned about the well-being of his disciples even more than the success of their mission.  Jesus invites them to come away and rest for a while.  Then when Jesus saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them for they were like sheep without a shepherd.  Always, Jesus places people first.  He wishes to the Good Shepherd of his disciples as well as the vast crowd of people.

 

 

May you embrace the grace of today’s liturgy and allow Jesus to be the Good Shepherd of your life.  Allow yourself to be loved by the Lord.  May our summer mantra be a renewal of the third commandment:  Yes, the Sunday Eucharist and Yes to allowing our loving to renew in Spirit.

 

May God give you rest in experiencing the love of the God who is within us.

 

When I am weak, then i am strong.

 

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN OT B 2021

 

On this Fourth of July weekend, may we enjoy perhaps a family cookout, watch some fireworks, participated in our town parade, perhaps a round of golf, reflected in gratitude on the blessings we enjoy as a nation.

I commend you for making this celebration of the Eucharist a spiritual moment in your holiday weekend.

 

The Scripture readings today invite us to experience God moments where we least expect.

 

  In the Gospel today, when Jesus returned to his hometown of Nazareth to preach in the synagogue, the people who knew him best responded with disbelief.   They said: “Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother James and Joses and Judas and Simon?”

By way of parenthesis, it was customary in the time of the evangelist to refer to close relatives as brothers and sisters.

As far as the hometown folks of Nazareth were concerned, Jesus was too local to be important.  As one sage puts it, “an expert is someone who tells you everything you already know but comes from of town and is carrying a briefcase.”  Jesus should be home making tables like his dad, instead of preaching in synagogues and working miracles and casting out demons. 

A question for our reflection is whether our preconceived notions of Jesus hinder us from recognizing his presence in the circumstances of our life.

The people of Jesus’ time might expect a word of God from the high priest in Jerusalem temple, but not from a carpenter, not from Nazareth.  What we believe in the mystery of the Incarnation is that God is not an expert from heaven with a briefcase.  Rather God is to be found in our neighbor, our friend, our hometown wisdom.

 Who for you is a most unlikely person to reveal God’s presence to you?

May you find the presence of God in those you know and love so deeply?  No one is too local or too ordinary to be a bearer of God’s love for you.

St. Paul in the second Scripture provides us with another deep insight in experiencing God where we least expect.

Paul writes: “A thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated.  ‘Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me: My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’  Paul then said, for the sake of Christ, ‘when I am weak, then I am strong.’”

Certainly anyone who knows much about the life of St. Paul would not view him as a weak man.  This is the man who, through his strong faith, puts his life in jeopardy constantly.  He endured imprisonment and shipwrecks.  Yet, he admits to having weaknesses.

There is something humiliating in admitting one’s weakness.  Pope Francis reveals his humility in beautiful ways.  In his first description of himself as our Pope, Francis humbly says: “I am a sinner.”  The message of this scripture passage is that recognizing and admitting our shortcomings is essential for us to have the strength Paul demonstrates.

The reason St. Paul finds strength in his limitations is because he is aware that the Lord will provide the power needed in the midst of those deficiencies.  Paul’s life is God-centered.  For the Apostle Paul, his true God-centeredness came from his weakness, rather than his strength.  For in his weakness, he grew to trust in God’s grace for his life.

However, note that Paul’s first prayer was that his thorn in the flesh would be removed so that he might be a better preacher of the Gospel.  So too, it is for us, we pray that we finally overcome the sins we have been confessing all our lives.  We finally want to get it right and prove that we have the will power to live the kind of life we can be very proud of.

 Yet, conversion happened for Paul happened when he switched gears.  Instead of praying that his thorn of the flesh would be removed, he boasted of his weakness.  Paul then said: “For the sake of Christ, when I am weak, then I am strong.”

How would that work for us?  Can you imagine yourself boasting of your weakness?  And then say: “When I am weak, I am strong.”

What success have you not achieved that is very important to you?  What would you like to give your children but are unable to?  What illness or handicap or addiction are you dealing with? What loss leaves an emptiness in your life?  What secret is too vulnerable for you to share with others?

These I suggest are your thorns in the flesh?   How can we embrace the virtue of humility and confess our shortcoming and acknowledge our need for God’s grace in our life?  This path, I would suggest, is your journey of conversion.

The virtue of humility does not come easily for anyone of us and certainly not us as a nation.  We would like to see ourselves at the top of the ladder than the bottom of the ladder.  The way we are wired is that we want to be among the best and the brightest.  Yet, Jesus has given us the example of the cross; he washed the feet of his disciples; and he came not to be served but to serve.

 

These Scriptures appropriately come to us during the ordinary time of the Church year.  The take home message for us during the ordinary time of the Church year is to find God in all of life, and to discover God’s presence in the ordinary and the unexpected moments of the day.

 

May God give you peace.